Ernest Lessieux (1848-1925) Oléron Island, 5 A.m. Sunrise Over The Sea. La Rochelle Menton Suire

2nd watercolor by Ernest Lessieux representing a view of the island of Oléron, this the ocean at sunrise at 5 a.m., signed lower right + marked on the back of the watercolor "550L, Oléron 5h" Format of the entire watercolor without the frame 16.5x24cm, at sight in the marie-louise 14x22cm and frame included 24x32cm. After the rustic house in La Cotinière (see other ad) I propose this time a view of the sea, probably taken from La Cotinière, Lessieux paints a sunrise by calm sea, as usual he masters watercolor to perfection, without preparatory drawing, in one go he paints this view probably in a few minutes and the essential is there, including the typical light of the island, worthy of the great painter that he was !!! Watercolor is therefore his favorite technique, the one thanks to which he will reach his success and his notoriety, just like his son a few years later (I also offer 2 other watercolors by his son Louis) Ernest Lessieux will have two regions of heart where he will live and will therefore paint the majority of his work, the island of Oléron and Menton. Ernest Lessieux is a French painter, watercolorist and draftsman, born in La Rochelle on August 3, 1848, and died in Menton on January 4, 1925. Until 1862, Ernest Louis Lessieux was a student at the municipal school of Nantes city where he worked from 1863 in the workshop of a painter-decorator. In 1865, he entered the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, where he was a student of Maxime Lalanne and Luc-Olivier Merson. After volunteering for the army in 1870 in the war against Prussia, Ernest Lessieux returned in 1871 to his native department, Rochefort-sur-Mer, where, settled at no. 78 rue des Fonderies, he was a drawing teacher at the high school and appointed curator of the museum. He married Victorine Virginie Boisramé. His son Louis Ernest was born in 1874: he would later be his student and collaborator in illustrating the postcards of the Compagnie générale transatlantique, then his companion on tireless hikes in search of picturesque sites, but also a precursor of color photography. In 1884-1886, Ernest Lessieux spent a long time in Menton for health reasons. He settled in Menton in 1897, living in a house decorated with frescoes by the Menton artist Guillaume Cerutti-Maori (1866-1955), rue de la Marne, while having his studio in the Burkhard house. Like Alexis Mossa, who gave drawing and painting lessons in Nice from 1872 to a wealthy clientele, a significant proportion of whom came from England, Ernest Lessieux also gained notoriety and financial comfort by teaching pictorial art in Menton, particularly within the English colony. He thus acquired in La Cotinière, his property on the Île d'Oléron where, in addition to several trips to Italy, Spain and Morocco, he returned on regular visits. Ernest Lessieux died on January 4, 1925, and is buried in the Trabuquet cemetery in Menton. On February 4, 1925, Louis Ernest Lessieux inaugurated a tribute exhibition in Menton dedicated to his father's work. This watercolor is in very good condition, it has been framed by reducing the borders, but it will of course be possible to have it reframed by enlarging the view, at your choice. Delivered in a pretty modern gilded frame. Work guaranteed authentic.